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Narrator POV

"Tch." Rimuru quickly moved his hand to his side to look for his blade. He gapsed. 'Nothing.' He thought. 'Oh, that's right. I don't have it with me.'

"Tanjiro." Rimuru said. "Stay back."

'I can easily overwhelm him with my skills.' Rimuru thought. 'This one's aura is nothing like that Demon with the pink hair. This one's a lot weaker.' Rimuru grinned. 'I can win this.'

Nezuko could only stare. Not at the demon. Past the demon. There, the family. It looked so... Enticing. She could feel drool falling out of her mouth, her pupils dilating. She wanted to eat...

She needed to eat.

"Ah?" The demon said, licking the blood of his hands. "There's something off about you." The demon stood up. "Are you three humans?" Tanjiro flinched at the question.

The candles flickered out.

...

'Raphael! Thought Acceleration!'

In not even an instant, the demon charged at Tanjiro. Breaking the door as he pushed Tanjiro out of the temple. Tanjiro, quickly reacting pulled out his hatchet and sliced the demon's neck. The demon flips off of him in response. Tanjiro landed painfully on his back. The demon stood there, raising his hand up to his sliced neck. He let out a laugh. "A hatchet, huh? Not bad."

"But a scratch like this..." The demon looked up. "Should heal in no time." Mere seconds after he said that, the wound closed itself. "See? The bleeding's stopped already." Suddenly, a flash appeared right behind the demon.

"Hah?"

"You forgetting somebody?"

In the blink of an eye, Rimuru had pushed the demon's face into the concrete. "Tanjiro." Rimuru said, appearing kneeling down right next to Tanjiro. "Just leave this to me."

"Really?" Tanjiro questioned. Rimuru nodded.

"Basically, the de-"

Rimuru was cut off by the demon attacking Tanjiro in a flash. It was so fast and unexpected, Tanjiro had no time to think. 'He's so fast!' Tanjiro thought. 'And he's unbelievably strong!'

"All right." The demon said in a mocking voice. "I'm gonna snap your neck!" Nezuko couldn't do anything. She was too busy trying to repress the temptations. 'Eat, eat, eat, eat...' Were the only thoughts running through her mind.

'No good. I'm going to die.' Tanjiro thought, struggling as hard as he could. Then, out of nowhere. Nezuko appeared and delivered a kick to the demon's head, kicking it clean off. The demon's head on the stem of a tree, leaving a blood splatter on the floor. She had managed to avoid the temptations.

'Eh?' Tanjiro thought staring at the head. "Eh!" He looked up at the body, hands still around his neck. Ready to kill. 'Sh-She killed him!' Tanjiro thought staring up at Nezuko. 'Oh, but wait! He's a demon, so-"

"Tanjiro!" Rimuru shouted quickly kicking the demon in its stomach sending it away. "You have to learn how to be more cautious or you aren't going to make it." Rimuru said, staring at Tanjiro. Tanjiro was still in too much shock to respond. 'I-I can't believe it.' Tanjiro thought.

'Did it just move without his head!'

"Hey, you bastards!" The demon's head said, cutting Tanjiro's thoughts off.

"What?" Rimuru said, crossing his arms. "Two of you are demons after all? You gave off such a weird vibe." The demon head said. Rimuru only sighed. "What's a human and two demons doing teaming up?"

'He's actually talking!' Tanjiro thought, adding more to his shock. 'Hm. So he can survive that as well. His regeneration is fairly similar to [Regeneration]' it just doesn't require any magicules.' Rimuru thought.

"I was right, though," Rimuru smirked. "The amount of damage a demon takes affects the amount of time it takes to heal. That really was obvious though." Rimuru raised his hand to his forehead. Suddenly, the demon's headless body came running forwards and jumped up to deliver a flying axe kick.

Rimuru only glanced up and jumped backward, causing the kick to miss entirely. The ax kick causes dust and debris to fly everywhere. The demon quickly recovered and came at Rimuru again, sending several punches and kicks. Rimuru dodged them effortlessly. "Stop it!" Tanjiro said, grabbing his hatchet. Nezuko came charging as well.

Quickly, the demon's head came running at Tanjiro with... Arms protruding from the side of its head? 'So it can grow extra limbs anywhere...' Rimuru thought staring at the head. Tanjiro quickly reacted and stuck the blade of the hatchet in the demon's mouth. The demon's pointed teeth dug into the blade easily.

'Alright then.' Rimuru thought ducking under a punch thrown by a demon. Quickly flipping over the demon. '[Universal Thread].' A thin string of thread tied around the demon's arm. '[Black Flame].' The thread caught fire and it quickly spread to the demon's arm, lighting it on fire.

Then Rimuru pulled on the thread causing it to amputate the demon's arm. Tanjiro was struggling. Just then, Nezuko tried to fight against the now armless-demon but quickly got countered. 'Rimuru! Nezuko!' Tanjiro thought staring at the fight. The demon quickly beat Nezuko to the ground. The demon picked Nezuko up by the back of her kimono and threw her deep into the forest, the demon quickly chasing after his throw.

Rimuru followed as well, disappearing in a flash. "Rimuru! Nezuko!" Tanjiro shouted this time, still struggling with the demon head. The demon grinned up at Tanjiro. Tanjiro flinched in fear. 'What's with this guy?' Tanjiro thought. 'Growing arms from his head.' Just then, strands of hair started wrapping around the handle of the hatchet. 'I gotta help Rimuru and Nezuko.' Tanjiro thought, determined.

"I have to catch up!" Tanjiro shouted reeling his head back. He smashed his skull into the demon's head causing a loud sound to ring throughout the entire temple. It had definitely cracked the demon's skull. The demon head got sent back just by the force of that headbutt. 'Hard as a rock!' The demon thought. Tanjiro didn't waste any time as he grabbed the demon's head and reeled his back again.

'That head of his...'

The demon didn't have time to think before Tanjiro's head came down again. 'Like a rock!' The demon thought. Tanjiro, taking the chance, grabbed the hatchet by the handle. "AHHHHHH!" He shouted, throwing the hatchet. "AHHHHH!" The demon also screamed as the hatchet spun with him still attached. The hatchet stuck into the stem of a tree, preventing the demon from moving any longer.

~

Rimuru side-stepped another one of the demon's punches. 'He's slow.' Rimuru thought as he countered, kicking the demon in the stomach launching it back several meters. 'Even though I'm weaker than before, this world's standards seem to be fairly low.' He thought as he rushed at the demon jumping over it's punch and kicking its neck.

Just then, Nezuko recovered and started assisting Rimuru. Nezuko let out a war cry as she kicked the demon's torso sending it forward as Rimuru jumped up again kicking it in the chest. It started stumbling around disoriented. "Guys!" Tanjiro called, arriving at the scene.

"Stop it!" Tanjiro tackled the demon. 'Yes!' He thought in relief but then realized...

He had just tackled the demon off the edge of a cliff and now they were falling.

Tanjiro screamed as he started falling. 'That idiot!' Rimuru thought, leaping off of the cliff and grabbing Tanjro's haori. Rimuru dug his boots into the cliffside trying to get a foothold. They slowed down to a halt as Rimuru dug his hand into the wall. The demon fell all the way down and suffered the full impact. Rimuru sighed as he threw Tanjiro over the cliff and he landed on the soft grass, Rimuru followed shortly after.

"Are we alright?' Rimuru asked. "Uh, yes!" Tanjiro answered quickly, rapidly nodding his head. "Thank goodness." Rimuru let out a relieved sigh as a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"Well, let's get back to the temple."

~

There in front of them was the demon's head. The body was stuck at the bottom of the chasm so they didn't have to worry about this but the actual demon was still alive.

Tanjiro took out a long knife as he stared at the demon's head. They had to kill it. 'I wonder if there are tons of demons out there.' Tanjiro thought, cautiously approaching the head. 'This isn't the scent that was lingering in my house. That was a different demon...'

'But...' Tanjiro's breath quickened. 'I gotta finish him off... Or he'll attack more people!'

'So...' Rimuru stared intently at Tanjiro. 'I gotta do it!' Nezuko had an apathetic expression on her face as she watched. Tanjiro started sweating profusely as he lost control of his breath. 'Do it!' Tanjiro tried forcing himself.

Just then, Tanjiro felt a hand on his shoulder.

'You can't finish him off with that.'

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